Error correcting codes from quasi-Hadamard matrices

Levenshtein described in [5] a method for constructing error correcting codes which meet the Plotkin bounds, provided suitable Ha- damard matrices exist. Uncertainty about the existence of Hadamard matrices on all orders multiple of 4 is a source of difficulties for the prac- tical application of this method. Here we extend the method to the case of quasi-Hadamard matrices. Since efficient algorithms for constructing quasi-Hadamard matrices are potentially available from the literature (e.g. [7]), good error correcting codes may be constructed in practise. We illustrate the method with some examples.Junta de Andalucía FQM–29